


Statistically, what's the most likely reason that the Monopoly game ended?

by captainThotiana



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Anxiety, Ash Tyler needs a hug, Board Games, Crying, Feels, Fluff, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Monopoly (Board Game), Sleep Deprivation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 07:37:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18494368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainThotiana/pseuds/captainThotiana
Summary: Statistically, what's the most likely reason that the Monopoly game ended?A) somebody wonB) everyone got bored and abandoned it after 3 hours of playingC) someone flipped over the board in a fit of rageD) everyone was drunk and sleep deprived and eventually fell asleep after sharing way too much personal baggageTake a wild guess.For a real summary, two sleep-deprived idiots play Monopoly at, like, too late at night, and the combination of tired and angst-y makes for some interesting conversation.





	Statistically, what's the most likely reason that the Monopoly game ended?

**Author's Note:**

> Second fic! Another woo! Not. Enough. Piler.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS! Very vague reference to past rape/non-con. Stay safe, darlings.
> 
> Yeah, I don't give a h*ck if you think there's more than eight pieces. Wheelbarrow, horse, dog, thimble, car, hat, iron, shoe. Don't come at me with your penguins.

“Where did you even find a board game?”

“Don’t ask questions, just pick a piece.”

“Please tell me this isn’t some historical artifact from the 1950s or something.”

“No, it’s a gift from a friend. Pick a piece.”

Ash Tyler was sitting on the floor of the captain’s quarters, giving said captain The Eyebrow as he poked at the eight Monopoly pieces lying on the floor.

“Is this supposed to be a dog?” Ash asked, poking the Scottie piece.

“Oy! Don’t diss the game!”

“Yeah, okay, but I can’t tell if it’s a terrier or a zebra.”

Pike - no, Chris - gave him a Look. “It’s a Scottish terrier.”

“Fine.”

Chris rolled his eyes at Ash and considered the horse and rider piece before choosing the top hat, putting the rest of the pieces back in the box.

“I’ll bank, you deal,” he said, in a voice that would have been captainly if it wasn’t past 2300 and they weren’t on the floor of the captain’s quarters playing Monopoly.

“Why do I have to be the dealer?”

“You know I can’t read,” Chris said, counting through the worn fake paper money - where did he even find paper money? - without the slightest hesitation.

\---

It was about 0100 hours when the sleep deprivation hit, turning friendly competition into mechanical movement of pieces across a board as two people from the same planet compared their vastly different worlds.

“Did you know Leland before all of this?” Ash finally asked.

There was a long silence in which Chris paused, piece midair, to think about his answer.

“We were engaged before he disappeared in the middle of the night to join Section 31,” Chris finally answered, setting the piece down again.

“Oh.”

“You were eager to choose the dog piece. Did you have a dog before?”

Ash smiled softly at the memory. “When I was younger. She passed away before I was ten, but she was such a sweet dog.”

“What kind of dog?”

“A rescue. She looked a bit like those old pictures of border collies, but shorter and rounder.”

“What was her name?”

“Nina. She was so gentle, especially when I was still little.”

It was nice spending time with Chris, Ash decided. He didn’t ask difficult questions, and he didn’t expect anything of him. He was just a nice person in general.

\---

By the time 0200 rolled around, they’d abandoned the game and found themselves on the couch, Chris sprawling and taking up more space than a single person should be capable of taking up, and Ash resigned to a single segment of it, curled halfway into a ball.

“Did you want to pick the horse piece instead?” Ash asked.

“Not really. Just reminiscing.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not really. You want to talk about anything?”

Ash was silent for a few moments.

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

Ash was struck again by the similarities between Chris and Lorca. The differences, too - Lorca never wanted to talk, didn’t care about things unsaid. Chris cared, not just in the way a captain cares for their crew, but in the way a friend cares for another friend.

But thinking about the past always lead back to his time in Klingon territory, and that reminded him of L’rell, and the many things left unsaid, untouched about that.

“You’re crying,” Chris said gently, a little sleepily, sitting up to wipe a tear from Ash’s face.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

Chris waited instead of prompting him. Another refreshing difference.

“Reminiscing can be dangerous, I guess,” Ash settled on, leaning into Christopher’s touch. He was warm - safe.

“The past still hurts, no matter how long it’s been,” Chris agreed, gently pulling Ash into his chest so they could both lie down on the couch.

With some shifting and wiggling, because cuddling - and that was what they were doing, no matter how much Ash tried to convince himself otherwise - took a lot more planning than it looked, they were both settled in, Chris on his back with one leg off the side of the couch and Ash curled up on top of him, head against his chest.

Somehow, Chris had grabbed a blanket while they tried to get comfortable, and spread it over them as best he could.

“I can’t stop thinking about Lorca,” Ash said quietly, so quietly he wondered if Chris had even heard.

“I get it. I still see people in places they aren’t,” Chris said into his hair.

“When I remember Lorca, it’s hard not to remember my time in Klingon captivity, too.”

Chris remained silent, not wanting to fray the edges of the vulnerability Ash had just offered him.

“I don’t know who I am anymore,” he continued, barely a whisper.

Chris wiped away another tear and softly kissed him on the forehead.

“You’re Ash Tyler.”

Ash shifted until his face was fully buried in the comforting warmth of his captain’s chest.

“Thank you,” he whispered into the soft cotton shirt there, so soft it could have been a dream.

\---

They woke up in a mess of limbs, the blanket acting more as a many-ended rope than anything else, but nonetheless warm and quite comfortable.

“I should probably get ready for my shift,” Chris conceded after a while.

“Me, too,” Ash agreed.

They didn’t get up for another hour.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I wrote a thing! Feel free to praise/roast me in the comments. Opinions on which Monopoly piece our favorite angstlords identify most with?
> 
> Also, the dog I decided Ash had is being named after my dog, a collie mix named Nina. He's definitely a dog person.
> 
> Chris thinks about the horse piece because it's mentioned in the original original pilot that he had horses when he was younger, when he's spending time with Vina. He doesn't choose it because he's chosen to move on from her, because, cough cough, h*ck canon and make things gayer.


End file.
